Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Poe 1952, Pt. 4

Following in the footsteps of TALES FROM THE CRYPT, we begin a whole series of Poe
adaptations that appeared in short-lived "horror" comics. While the
hysteria of parents & censorship groups apparently knew no bounds,
as we'll see here, there were many comics of artistic and literary merit
wiped out in the ensuing storm-- EVEN those of the "horror" variety.

Youthful was a publisher that specialized in non-superhero titles (horror, westerns, humor, romance). One of their notable titles was CAPTAIN SCIENCE, which became FANTASTIC, BEWARE, and finally, CHILLING TALES.
Many comics publishers discovered they could save a lot of money in
2nd-class mailing permits by simply changing the name of an existing
series while maintaining the numbering.

This particular entry came as quite a shock to me, as it features the
art of one of my favorite people who ever worked in the comics biz-- Doug Wildey. He was apparently the main artist for Youthful,
his work appearing in nearly every one of their titles! This is
without doubt the earliest example of his work I've ever seen, and his
style definitely evolved over time. I'd never have guessed this was
from the creator of JONNY QUEST-- if he hadn't actually signed it!

Meanwhile, I had not been able to find any info on the 2 artists who did the following cover... suffice to say, they are not the musician and CIA operative known these days. However, Mort Todd passed on the following:

"Ed
Goldfarb & Bob Baer worked for various companies in the 50s:
Fiction House, Atlas, Charlton, Avon. Don't remember seeing a story
where one didn't work with the other!" (Thanks, Mort!)